Champions League: Uefa is 'afraid' of Europe's most powerful clubs, claim governing leagues body

The European Professional Football Leagues made the claims after Uefa introduced a number of reforms to the Champions League which favour Europe’s biggest leagues and their clubs

Uefa have introduced a number of changes to Champions League format which has angered the European Professional Football Leagues (Getty)

Uefa is helping powerful clubs transform the Champions League into a closed shop for super-rich teams because it is “afraid” of them, the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) has claimed.

The EPFL has hit out against the recent reforms announced by Uefa which will guarantee Europe’s top four domestic leagues four places each in the group stages of the Champions League from the 2018/19 season.

The current top four according to Uefa's rankings are Spain, Germany, England and Italy.

The EPFL has called for the governing body to scrap the proposed changes to the competition amid fears that national leagues will suffer.

EPFL head Lars-Christer Olsson said: "Uefa has gone to bed with a limited number of clubs."

Uefa made changes to its elite club competition to counteract the supposed threat of a breakaway ‘Super League’ being formed by the big clubs

But Olsson, who was chief executive of European football's governing body from 2003 to 2007, added: "Uefa was afraid for no real reason [of Europe’s most powerful clubs].

"For the majority of clubs, domestic leagues are more important than international competitions and more important than a breakaway league."

Olsson added that Uefa had pushed through these changes “without taking into account the wishes and needs of everyone else”.

"We are asking Uefa to revoke the current decision and start the process all over again,” he said.

Uefa introduced the changes in a bid to to counteract the supposed threat of a breakaway ‘Super League’ being formed (Getty)

The system by which Champions League cash is distributed is also expected to change under the revamp.

From 2018, a club's "individual coefficient" - how it has performed historically in European competition - will affect how much money it receives.

These changes will see established former winners being better rewarded.

In addition to this, "historical success in the competition" will also be acknowledged to calculate where a league sits in its rankings.

Points will be awarded for previous European titles but weighted towards more recent success in the Champions League and Europa League.

The European Club Association, which represents the clubs, supported the reforms.


 Real Madrid, the 2015/16 champions, are dominant in the Champions League having lifted the trophy a record total 11 times 
 (Getty)

But Scottish Professional Football League chief executive Neil Doncaster - an EPFL member - has described the Champions League changes as "regressive and protectionist".

"We risk an inexorable slide towards an NFL-style closed-shop system. Uefa has a duty to act on behalf of the entire game, not just a few, select clubs and leagues," he added.

According to the EPFL, the Uefa’s proposals threaten to widen the gap between Europe's richest clubs and the rest.

But Uefa rejected the EPFL’s claims, arguing that a “wide-ranging” process took place that incorporated the views of the leagues.

Acting general secretary Theodore Theodoridis said: "We are happy that the concepts of solidarity, fair competition, fair distribution and good governance remain at the core of European football."